Australia's #AC2015 triumph generates football fever for kids

Feb 17 / australia

The Australian Socceroos’ heroic triumph as 2015 AFC Asian Cup Champions and host country helped generate plenty of football fever in the local schoolyard, while the family-friendly environment and prime-time screening of the Cup meant the whole family could get in on the action.

The notoriously digital-savvy demographic was also influenced by the considerable buzz online, where social media took to the Cup like a duck to water.

Photo: Football Federation Australia

The official Twitter hashtag of the tournament #AC2015 reached around 2.69 billion users by semi-final time, while on the official YouTube channel over 10 million minutes of game time has been watched.

This year's Asian Cup excitement has helped to “supercharge” the popularity of football amongst school-age children says One Goal Australia partner Football Federation Australia's (FFA) chief executive David Gallop.

Mr Gallop says the FFA are anticipating around 45,000 extra young footballers will hit the pitch for this upcoming outdoor soccer/football season.

“We are forecasting that all this interest will produce a spike in football participation, with a jump up to eight percent in registrations,” says Mr Gallop.

“Every World Cup sees a spike, but having the Asian Cup in our own backyard has been a huge boost to the game … The Socceroos have truly captured the imagination of Australians with the triumph in the Asian Cup.”

At around 1.96 million participants, football is already the most popular team sport played nationwide. But thanks to the extraordinary sporting moments produced by Socceroos' stars Cahill, Luongo, Davidson, Troisi and co. during the Cup it looks like these numbers are only set the soar.

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